Where's Mitt? GOP candidate is a no-show on PA TV this summer.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney may be nearly impossible to escape in the headlines, but TV commercials paid for his campaign are nowhere to be found this summer in Pennsylvania.

The former Massachusetts governor hasn’t bought so much as a second of statewide television airtime since the end of April. And even the GOP-friendly super PACs that have – unofficially -- aided Romney have scaled back their presence in the state during the warmer months.

As a consequence, President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign has also cut its overall airtime spending in Pennsylvania this summer, according to an inspection of purchase contracts filed with four central Pennsylvania television stations and an analysis by the National Journal, a Washington-insider publication.

And while things could heat up after Labor Day, some political analysts and veteran media hands suggested that the sluggish pace of ad spending could be an early sign that Pennsylvania has lost some of the swing-state swagger it had in the 2008 campaign that put Obama in the White House.

“Usually you try to keep some presence in a state if you seriously intend to compete there,” said Chris Borick, a political science professor and pollster at Muhlenberg College in Allentown. “I’m surprised he hasn’t put up even some token ads.”

Alan Novak, a former state Republican chairman, sees it another way: Romney is serious about competing and winning in Pennsylvania. But with other states in play, he may be delaying heavy airtime purchases in Pennsylvania until after the GOP convention in Tampa later this month.

With poll numbers tightening here and nationwide, Novak said there’s “a fair argument that Romney is doing well without a heavy spend,” in Pennsylvania.

Between May 1 and July 27, Obama’s re-election campaign spent $4.85 million in Pennsylvania, according to the National Journal analysis. For the week ending July 30, Obama spent $270,317. That’s compared to a high of $826,536 during the week of June 18.

Between April 30 and July 31, Obama spent $526,050 on advertising on WGAL-TV, the NBC affiliate in Lancaster, records filed with the station showed. Romney’s last air buy with the station came in April. Between April 9 and April 22, the Republican spent $47,015 on airtime at the station, according to contracts on file there.

Through a spokeswoman, Romney’s campaign declined to comment on its media strategy in Pennsylvania.

In Ohio, another key swing state, Obama’s re-election campaign has spent $23.3 million since May 1, dropping $2.26 million during the week of July 30, the National Journal’s analysis shows. Romney, meanwhile, has spent more than $10 million on advertising buys in Ohio during the May 1 to July 27 time-frame.

While Pennsylvania remains a must-win for Obama in November, Romney doesn’t need to carry the state to win the election. So the pace of the GOP air campaign is a “good indicator of how much they [Republicans] believe the state is genuinely competitive,” said J.J. Balaban of The Campaign Group, a Philadelphia media consulting firm that works with Democrats.

No Republican has carried the state since President George H.W. Bush in 1988. And even in years in which Republicans capture the White House, such as George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election win, Democrats have still carried the day in Pennsylvania.

Republican media consultant John Brabender of Pittsburgh, whose clients include former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., urged against counting out Pennsylvania.

The sheer size of the state, which is split into six different media markets, including the massively expensive Philadelphia market, just means Republicans are keeping their powder dry until election season gets into full swing in the fall, he said.

“Pennsylvania is just a remarkably expensive state and you just don’t have the opportunity to play everywhere for the entire length of the campaign,” Brabender said, noting that the campaigns will be spending $1 million a week and more on commercials as Election Day approaches. “The race is in play in Pennsylvania.”

Asked why he believed Obama had stayed on the air in the state while Romney had abdicated, Brabender said he believed Obama “had invested early to try to move [Pennsylvania] off the map. But I think the economic numbers just overshadowed it.”

But the campaigns aren’t the only ones searching trying to attract voters’ eyeballs this campaign season. Super PACs associated with each side have also been purchasing airtime.

One such group, Crossroads GPS, which was founded by former Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan and ex-Bush adviser Karl Rove, has spent nearly $2.8 million in Pennsylvania since May 1. The group spent $297,925 on airtime on WGAL-TV in Lancaster between April 30 and July 31, records show.

On the Democratic side of the fence, Priorities USA, which is run by former Obama aides Bill Burton and Sean Sweeney, has spent $2.1 million statewide since May 1, the National Journal’s analysis shows. About $232,525 of that purchase went to time on central Pennsylvania’s NBC affiliate, records show.

While the groups are forbidden by law from officially coordinating with the respective presidential campaigns, the Super PACs’ spending decisions can help campaigns decide where to allocate resources.

If a third-party group is “on in one market, you could move to another market in the same state,” or spend money elsewhere, Brabender suggested.